The rise of a new Dawn
by Snipthewolf
Summary: As the second Tiberian War comes to a close, old projects begin awakening all across the Italian Red Zone, as a new force, controlled by neither Nod, nor GDI arises and forever changes the outcome of the war in ways even Kane himself cannot foresee.
1. Prologue

-Three weeks before the end of the Second Tiberium War-

-Recording Begin-

*Nod Scientist*: Entry 237.41, The end is drawing closer.. Our work is nearly complete but it won't matter, Kane has lost. Nod has lost!

…

…

…

There's nothing left here.. I'm all alone, alone with my work. My precious, precious WORK!

…

They will live and breathe our air, free of the constraints of us MERE beings! They will be able to walk among the holy green crystals, to touch the very surface and know how it feels to hold the most valued of our very lives… They..they…

…

…

…

…

They will fight for Kane, for Nod, FOR TIBERIUM! But..

I am not worthy to see this beautiful new dawn..I.. I have completed my purpose..

*Muffled gunshot*

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…

…

-Automatic recording ending-

* * *

-Two months later-

As the sun slowly rose over the desolate, disfigured remnants of Italy, its once glorious skys clouded with Tiberian gas, and its once rolling hills scarred by massive spires of Tiberium. It was through this mutated land that to large six wheeled vehicles rolled through on massively oversized tires, their golden paint standing out against the sickly green glow of the crystals around them.

Inside the lead vehicle a small team of very irate men clothed in large sealed suits of armor continued to argue. "Dammit sarge, why are we even out here. There's nothing left in these zones, nothing!" the one closest to the entrance said. "Because we have orders Mendez, that's why!" the one near the back said, his voice full of annoyance. "Well.. What are we even loo-" 'Mendez' began before being cut off by a synthetic female voice. "Warning, Ion Storm approaching."

The man at the back sat up, popping open the hatch in the center of the roof before sticking his head up and out of the massive vehicle. Above him the clouds of toxic gas churned and twisted before finally erupting as a mass of pure energy shot down from the clouds and obliterated one of the few mutated tree's that had managed to hold on to life, reducing it to ash.

The man stuck his head back into the tank, yelling to the driver. "Move it, we need to get to cover now!" the driver responded by slamming his foot on the gas and sending the armored vehicle speeding down the trail with the second one following close behind.

Quickly the man looked back at the APC behind the lead vehicle, only to look away as a blinding light forced him to avert his eyes. When he looked back the vehicle was no longer behind them, but a large black crater and several large chunks of scrap told him all he needed to know as he closed the hatch above him.

"Driver, we need cover, NOW!" He yelled as the driver turned to reply, only to be engulfed in a flash of light as a Ion bolt struck the vehicles cockpit, throwing it like it was nothing against a large chunk of Tiberium, shattering the small spire and sending the vehicles occupants soaring from the wreck. The last thing the man saw was 'Mendez' impaled on a spire of Tiberium, and the ground rushing to meet him as he succumbed to the dark embrace of death.

* * *

-Meanwhile half a mile below the surface-

In a rather small black room far below to surface, lights flickered on as consoles that had sat inert for months began to power on, and nearby a small reactor began to come online as the power of the Ion electrons jumpstarted the system. Slowly the dark corridors began to glow a dull red as the lights slowly grew in power, some shorting out while others began to glow brightly. But as the systems began to return to what had once passed for 'normal' operations, something within the facility began to awaken as a pair of bright amber eyes opened in the still black portions of the complex.

The new dawn, had awakened...


	2. Chapter 1 (A Rude Awakening)

-Unknown Underground Complex, Italian Red Zone-

Inside a large glass tank filled with a strange green and nearly see-through liquid a lone figure floated, his body covered by a strange black bodysuit while a bulky grey mask covered his mouth. only minutes after the generator came online the still body began to stir, first his fingers moved slightly, then his arm. Till he finally opened his eyes which glowed a bright amber yellow even in the murky 'waters' of the tank.

Suddenly and without warning, the liquid began to drain itself from the tank leaving the figure to sink to the bottom before finally gripping the mask and removing it from his face. After taking a few breaths the 'man' held a hand up to wipe traces of the liquid from his face, only to stop as he noticed that his skin was no longer skin, but a strange orange fur.

He shook his head, trying to think back to before he was taken as nausea threatened to force him to his knee's. He could remember a few things, a small settlement nestled in a valley, tiberium spires occasionally dotting the surrounding cracked terrain, a small modular house and someone, a stern faced man, his tanned skin glowing in the light of an illumination strip.. He seemed familiar. He knelt there as he fought the urge to empty his stomach, just thinking. The more he tried to remember, the worse he felt.. The sickening pit in his gut finally taking its toll as he slumped forward and vomited, a thick black mixture coating the grey colored floor below with a sickening 'slopping' sound as it hit the ground. Shuddering at the revolting sight, the man pulled himself back before finally collapsing on his side, panting as he tried to clear his mouth of the black slime.

He laid there for minutes, maybe even hours as his mind tried to process everything, and above all else, He thought. He thought of the man he'd seen, and the more he thought about it the more he remembered. the stern looking man was his father, a scavenger in the ruins of Austria. He remembered it, but.. It was all a blur. It didn't help that the rooms two lights, with little more then a hint of a click, activated. Blinking in the growing light he could just make out a shape a few feet from him, though as the lights grew brighter he found himself unsure of what the.. Thing, in front of him was.

It clearly wasn't human, oh of course it had the two arms and two legs you'd expect, it also looked more or less female in the skin-tight bodysuit. That aside though, it seemed similar to him. A mutant. It shared the same mutations that had apparently wracked his body from the pointed muzzle and re-positioned ears, to the fur running across most of its body. Or at least the visible parts of her body, the coloration of her fur even looked similar to his.

Narrowing his eyes, the mutated man struggled to his knee's again and this time managed to rise to his feet with a groan leaving his lips, the nausea was still there, but it wasn't as intense as it'd been earlier. Taking a moment to steady himself, the man took a few uncertain steps towards the.. I suppose its a vixen? He mentally shook his head as he looked her over from a distance before finally making a decision. Taking the last two steps forward he took a knee and gripped the woman by er shoulder, pushing her over on her side. He'd barely gotten her there when she finally started spasming, a series of ragged coughs escaping her muzzle alongside some of that black colored goo.

Not knowing what else to do, he held her there as she coughed her guts (and whatever that black gunk was) all over the floor, a feeling of pity running through him. This wasn't right.. It wasn't natural in any way. Still he knelt there and held her, if only to keep her from rolling into the goo. Though after a few minutes she stopped coughing it up, and she simply laid there. Similar to the way he had.

Carefully he laid her on her back and got to his feet, arms gripping around her shoulders as he pulled her away from the puddle and laid her down again, his right hand shifting up to her neck to check her vitals. The moment his hand reached it though, he felt a thick weight strike him in his chest, the force of it sending him across the room and into the concrete wall where he dropped to the ground in a heap.

Dazed and shocked, he shook his head and held his aching ribs as the pain ran through him, his amber gaze running up to the woman after a few moments as he shifted over on his side. The woman's eyes were wide in shock, either from the fact she'd kicked him across the room. Or from the fact that she'd kicked him hard enough to crack concrete.. something he noticed as his gaze ran from her to the wall he'd hit, where a large spider-web of cracks spread across the previously smooth surface. That kind of damage was almost unthinkable for a normal person, or at least. It was.

Groaning, he pulled himself to his feet and resisted the urge to cough up blood, the feeling of which was already fading quite quickly. Holding a hand to his aching ribs, he slowly pushed himself up to a crouch, letting right leg support him as he surveyed the room. It wasn't very large, maybe two or three meters wide. Most of that having been taken up by the now empty tanks, the glass casings having retracted into the floor. Their departure though did reveal something hidden in the darkness. Pulling himself to his feet, he winced as a loud pop echo'd through the room. Raising his head he found the shattered remains of one of the two lights sparking only a few feet above, covering the front half of the room, and the closed door beyond, in darkness.

Letting out a muffled curse, he took a few unsteady steps toward the object. The blocky shape and small illumination stripes set into its surface just barely making it noticeable among the shadow's of the room. A quartet of dark grey lockers, the kind you'd normally find in any factory or plant where uniforms aren't allowed to be taken off property. Stopping in front of the locker, he hesitated. Something about the red lighting, the dark atmosphere.. It was too familiar. shaking the uneasy feeling off he gripped the handle ad pulled open locker with a groan of un-oiled hinges. What he saw inside finally pulled the last strings into place.

It was a weapons locker. On one side of the small metal space was a GAU-3 Eliminator, a common weapon among the armed militants of the Brotherhood of Nod renowned for its incredible stopping power and decent fire-rate when compared to modern weapons of the Global Defense Initiative. Its familiar blocky design easily coming to the front of the mans mind. Next to it were a few magazine's, some folded white and grey clothing, and much to his surprise, hanging by a thin wire hanger was an armored vest. It wasn't as surprising that said vest had the black and red scorpion tail emblem of the brotherhood set into its matte black surface.

With hardly a thought against it, he let a low growl push its way between his lips as he looked over the vest, just barely giving the odd, almost instinctual feeling a second thought. It felt right to him, he wasn't sure why or for what reason, but it felt perfectly natural. With his mind as clouded as it was, he finally decided to put it off for later. In the meantime though, he turned the clothing over in his hands. It was a jacket with a rather distinct white and grey digital pattern, clearly a call-back to the older uniforms of the first tiberium war. Seeing no other reason aside from his rather.. 'revealing' clothing, he slipped the jacket on over the skin-tight body-glove, the pants following quickly after.

Letting his hands trail a path up the front of his jacket, he buttoned it up, one of his hands stopping on the last button. With a short glance at the vest he sighed, the short look slowly growing longer.. And longer, by the time a full minute had passed he'd finally decided. Leaning in, he picked up the vest and slid it on over his heads, pushing his arms through the armored arm slots before finally tugging it down into place. the vest adjusting to his measurements with the same cold efficiency Nod was famous for.

. .

. . .

. . . .

It wasn't really as uncomfortable as I expected. Patting it down I was.. Not pleasantly, but surprised to find it fitted perfectly to my torso, a short neck-guard keeping covering the area around my throat while several magnetic clips dotted the vests form, And a short glance over my shoulder revealed additional magnetic clamps. The largest of which took up a portion of the vests spine, likely for placing weapons or communications equipment without the need for complicated straps to hold it in place.

Turning back to the locker I gripped the rifle and pulled it off its rack with a flicker of memory. As far as rifles went, the GAU was rather odd and unwieldy by comparison to its GDI counterpart. It's geometric shape and distinct lack of a butt-stock gave the weapon a rather odd appearance, and its high fire-rate and power left many with the simple option of shooting from the hip, relying solely on their armors targeting software which thankfully interfaced seamlessly with the weapon, allowing the shooter to simply point his weapon at a target, adjust till the on-screen cross-hairs were over the target, then pull the trigger.

Without a helmet I'd have to fall back on what little skill I had with the weapon. Gripping the weapon by its barrel, I retrieved four of the sixty round magazines and attached the cube-like munitions containers to the right side of my vest as a second pair of feet reached my ears. Glancing over I found myself face to muzzle.. Or was it muzzle to muzzle? With the woman, dog.. Thing.

Silence dominated the room as I waited for her to say something, anything. . ..But she remained silent, looking over over with a cautious glare in her eyes. First seconds, then minutes seemed to pass as the we stood there, looking each other over before she finally broke the silence. "Move over.." Her tone wasn't exactly that of a fearful woman, or a shell-shocked victim. It was more of a command really. With hardly a nod I stepped to the side as she moved over to the next locker. Seemingly taking her time as she looked each and every article in it over before clothing herself, though surprisingly she left the vest behind as she equipped herself.

She checked over every part of her weapon, the magazine, the receiver, the trigger. All in a manner that hinted to a previous experience with the rifle, or at least a similar one. Glancing back at me, she narrowed her eyes faintly, the piercing golden orbs keeping me silent until finally, she nodded to the door. With a pause to double-check the receiver on my own rifle, I closed the distance with the door and clasped the handle. The sound of whirring machinery from beyond the door setting an uneasy sensation across my body.. The sort of tingling sensation that leaves you cold and weary.

with a short turn, I steeled myself pulled open the door, eyes adjusting to the dim red-lit hallway beyond.


	3. Chapter 2 (memory of the Past)

-Unknown underground complex, Italy-

As my eyes adjusted to the darkness of the hallway, I couldn't help but feel a spike of fear run up my spine. I shook my head and slowly moved down the hall with the woman following close behind. Suddenly I saw something else move ahead of us, in the darkness at the end of the hall another door opened and in its place stood a small lithe shape, it sat and watched us for a moment before looking to its right and screaming before ducking back into the room as a barrage of bullets ripped into the door-frame, tearing digging into the dark steel.

Quickly I dashed forward to the corner and peeked out, my eyes widening slightly as I peered through the smoky hallway. Moving slowly through the smoke were a pair of red dots, and with a whirr of mechanized gears, a pair of bulky humanoid shapes moved forward, firing another barrage at the doorway as I raised my rifle, leveling it with the first shape and pulling the trigger.

In short controlled bursts of fire, the first figure collapsed in a sparking heap as the second aimed its arm in my direction and halted, only to collapse as a line of yellow streaks flew in from my left and collided with its head, quickly I whipped my head around to see that a figure similar to the one i'd seen in the door before was lowering a rifle of its own, and as the smoke cleared I felt a tug of thanks run through me as the figure stepped forward, quickly followed by the smaller outline of its companion before calling out in a deep Texan-like tone.

"Well, would someone please explain what the hell is going on?" He asked as he looked over at us. "Your guess is as good as mine mate." I said, looking him over. His appearance seemed like that of a dusty brown coyote with a strange pattern of green fur running down from his forehead to the base of his neck, and from the look of it he was built like a Mister Universe with massive muscles under his grey digi-style BDU's while his head was covered with a matching digi boony cap that hardly covered his ears.

I opened my mouth to speak when the sound of mechanical joints echoed down the hall, and next thing I know the two of them were charging down the hall, firing into the lone Nod Cyborg that had hobbled into the hall, several of the rounds found their mark and tore into the machine mans's chaingun, ripping large chunks from its metal housing and rendering it useless. This didn't stop it from using the tattered remains as a club, slamming the woman that had charged through a thin metal door shattering a number of things inside the room as I joined in, firing a few bursts at the monsters vulnerable head, turning it into bloody chunks of flesh and metal.

With the immortal Nod soldier dead I lowered my rifle, my eyes registering something from the room, a light. Unlike the faint red or white lighting the facility used, this one was more ominous, it was a faint, sickly green color mixed with blue. 'No, no no no.' I thought as I slowly approached the door, peering around the room as I entered.

It was worse then I'd feared.

The faint light in the room was from the small spires of Tiberium that were resting inside a series of clear cases, both of the Blue and green variants, as well as a stranger variant, a crimson red crystal on the far side of the room. 'Its a god damn Tib lab." I thought in horror before spotting the woman, laying in a pile of glass, with a small fist sized chunk of Tiberium laying on her arm.

For a moment I stopped, waiting for the crystal to grow over her arm, to use her to fuel its growth.

. . .

. . .

Nothing happened.

I stood there staring at her, while she stared at the piece of Tiberium, surprise, shock, and a series of other emotions flashing through her eyes before she testily moved her hand up and tapped it.

. . .

Still nothing happened, slowly she picked it up, almost dropping it as a series of green and lime yellow lines seemed to flow across her. In my entire time alive, the only times i'd seen anything similar was when Mutant soldiers stood in Tib, and it healed them, gave them strength to fight. And now this person was holding a piece of the most dangerous thing in human history.

'_She's immune to tiberium exposure._' I realized, eyes wide in shock.

"I-i'm alive?" Came a shocked and very confused voice. Slowly the woman rose to her feet, holding the chunk of green crystal in her hand. Slowly she opened one of the other cases and dropped the chunk in with another piece of green Tiberium, pausing for a second before closing it and looking across the room at a computer.

Without stopping she quickly ran across the room, sliding into the chair and moving the mouse, bringing the screen to life. As well as the file that was still open.

Her eyes scanned the screen for a moment, growing wider as she read on. "O-oh my god.. Those bastards actually thought that would work." She said, something like a growl escaping her lips before glancing back at me. "Come over here, you've got to see this." Slowly I walked over, leaning on the desk. My eyes scanned the screen, skimming over what looked like complex equations and formulie taking up most of it, practically none of it was recognizable to me. I could only make out a few references among the extensive amount of scientific jargon.

Only a few things actually stood out among the lines of text.. Wait.

I stopped.'Venezia base, Project HUNTER, What the hell is all of this?' I thought, as my eyes drifted back to the.

With a slow breath I glanced at the woman, who began typing something into the computer, a small red box appearing on the screen chocked full of seemingly random numbers and letters, but to her.. It was something else. With a few quick clicks and a few pieces of code typed into the box the entire screen shuddered for a moment as the coded words and notes became legible.

With a quick glance at the screen I looked back at the woman. "What did you do?" I asked, confused by her quick reaction. Slowly she blinked before looking at me. "I-i'm not really sure what I did." She said, blinking shock from her eyes. "What do you mean your not sure, you just did it." I said, eyeing her She shook her head, looking lost. "I.. I'm not sure, I just did it.. Like it was something normal, a reflex I guess." She muttered, glancing back at the screen.

"Alright, well we've got the file, so lets find out what happened then, eh?" Came a shockingly close voice. Quickly I turned, snapping my rifle to a firing position in the direction of the voice, eyeing the four dark figures as they stared back, equally armed to myself, and seemingly unfazed by my action, slowly I let the rifle droop as I realized they weren't Nod, they were all dressed in the same style grey Digi, and they all looked like the woman and I.

"There's more of us?" I asked, to which an irritated grunt met me. "Yeah, now can you please start reading, some of us want to know what the hell's going on." Came an annoyed, quiet sounding voice from the back of the group, another woman, mutated into whatever they made us, pushed through the small crowd, her digi top missing and in its place was a black tank top, a pair of black nine millimeter handguns were holstered on her thighs while her shoulder length raven black hair seemed out of place over her snow white fur, unlike the others, there wasn't a guy with matching anything, sized, hair, hell even fur color. 'Its obvious they wanted to play god with their little experiments, but what about her.' I thought, narrowing my eyes.

"Who are you?" I asked, glancing back at the woman on the computer, typing away. "Tanya. Now, let me in so I can find out what the hells going on." She growled in a cold, vaguely disrespectful tone. '_Right.. Just gunna steer clear of her._' I thought as I stepped aside, eyes narrowed as the white furred woman pushed by me, nodding to the woman on the computer. 'Just what the hell were they doing?' I thought.

This is going to be a long day..

_**(Authors note: Well its been awhile but I'm continuing this, and before anyone starts whining, yelling, or flaming for either A: adding someone non-canonical or fucking up the universe, or B: Complain about 'ruining' Tanya. Hear me out, the Wiki never explains what happens to the original Tanya Adams, and the major split from the C&amp;C timelines 'Tib' and 'Red Alert' happen around the time of miss Adams visit too a certain KGB prison.. The idea is that Tanya was not saved by Allied forces, and Russia eventually joined the Brotherhood, now we all know Nod wouldn't just let such a treasure go to waste by killing her, when they can use her. As is the apparent 'goal' of Project HUNTER, and to those of you that criticize for the sake of bashing an attempt at the story..Just don't read it, if it bothers you just ignore it and not PM me with hateful messages, its rather irritating. Anyway, enjoy and hopefully I'll get more out soon. -Snip)**_


	4. Chapter 3 (Cracking the case)

The whine of the air vents above woke me, the feeling of chilled pure air hit me a few moments later. The feeling of it on my fur, after living for my entire life with skin, was a little un-nerving at best. It wasn't exactly the most uncomfortable thing, and we'd found out a few days prior that we didn't shed. But it was still strange to me. Slowly I rolled over and stared at the clock, it was almost eight in the morning as I pulled myself out of the bed.

It hadn't taken us long to fish out the last of the facility's automated guards, and from the look of it all of the scientists with the exception of those who'd given themselves to tiberium in the facility's Refinery, had fled. 'Fled.' I scoffed. They didn't flee, they just abandoned what little of the work they did here, the files Filis had fished out had told us everything. Nod had lost the war, what little remained had fractured into desperate men fighting to scrape out their own empires, using the tools gained in their time under Kane to take over towns and villages across the world.

I shook my head, my lips pulling up, revealing the glint of naturally sharpened canines in the faint light of the emergency lighting strips. 'Some men would try to help the helpless, GDI can't do it and Nod simply refuses to help anyone.. This world is so infuriating.' For a moment I thought further, until I found myself staring in the mirror at the far side of the room, watching the thing in it stare back at me, its lips falling to conceal glistening teeth and its hate for the world around it.

Slowly I sighed. 'Its just one more thing to get used to.' I thought as I laid back on the bed and stared up at the ceiling, I hardly noticed someone knocking on the door until a black booted foot kicked it in, and the familiar white muzzle of the woman known as Tanya peered in. "Hey, get dressed and get the vehicle bay, we've got something." She said, and before I could say even say a word she was gone.

Quickly I jumped out of the bed and hurriedly threw on one of the new uniforms we'd had pumped out from the fabricators in the refinery. Unlike the one's we'd gotten back when we all woke up, these ones were made with thin plates of carbon fiber and woven titanium alloy, the end result had been a fabric capable of taking anything up to a 9-mm armor piercing round at the weakest point, and possibly a 7.62 round at the thickest, and due to some last second input by Tanya, it was digitally patterned in light blue and blue with a white eagle topped triangle fabricated into the right shoulder as well as two types of hats, a boonie cap and a matching army styled cap, it hadn't taken Filis long to make it something like a standard among us, almost everyone had a full uniform in one variation or another.

It was in this that I dressed, quickly pulling on a pair of boots before I rushed out of the room into the hall, my army cap in hand. As I ran I couldn't help but let my mind wander, out of all the areas we had gotten into, the Vehicle bay was the only one to stay out of our grasp, we hadn't found any info on it other then a blueprint. From what I could remember, it was large, covering more then a hundred meters from the main door to the surface entrance. It was a little over forty meters wide with a series of square inlets along the wall. Filis had said something about them likely being used to hold vehicles, but each of them was rather large, at least twenty meters in both length and width. As I rounded the corner I was shaken out of my thoughts as I saw that the door had been opened, and everyone was standing just inside of the door, eerily quiet in the face of such a great thing, and as I pushed my way through the crowd I found myself staring at what had stopped them.

When Filis had said that the bay housed vehicles, she was correct, when she said the alcoves were somewhat large for holding vehicles, she was right, but what was set into these alcoves were not only big enough to fill them, but tall enough too. Standing on two massive, thick legs was a machine that almost mimicked the GDI's Titan walkers, the difference was both in its appearance and in its armament. The standard GDI titan was nearly two stories or three at most with a rounded upper body built to support its one massive tank killing cannons, this thing, however, put that to shame. It's upper body was made of smooth sloped armor, much thicker then that of a Titan, its cockpit was centered on the torso and it sported not one, but TWO massive emplacements on two 'arms' set into both sides of the torso, similar in placement to a GDI Wolverine, but on a much bigger scale. It took me a moment to take it in, there was more then eight of these machines, and just looking at them made my hands twitch.

My entrance seemed to break the trance as everyone broke into groups, most heading over to the massive grey machines, while some went over toward some smaller ones, until it was only me and Tanya. With a short glance back at me she smiled. "Come on, we've got more to see," she said as she started walking down the center of the bay. Quickly I followed after, passing a number of the massive vehicles and a number of other alcoves that, though similar in width, had roofs that were substantially lower, and in the light of the bay's built-in lamps I could see a number of older trucks and jeeps parked in there, and as we passed another I noticed a line of massively built trucks with some sort of hump built into the back of it. 'Odd, I wonder what those are for.' I though as Tanya stopped in front of me, in my haste to look at everything around us, I'd yet to notice our destination.

The massive set of doors stood in front of us, climbing up into the dark of the bay's ceiling. Both sides angled off until they met the walls, but that wasn't what had my intrest, it was what Tanya was doing that had me. She was bent over on her knees working away at a panel with a rather large blade. With a grunt she pulled the knife and stopped, shooting me a glance over her shoulder.

"Will you stop eyeing my ass and help me with this." She growled, startling me into action as I walked over and knelt down next to her, gripping the knife. "Alright, ready.. Pull!" She muttered aloud as we both pulled on the blade until the panel shot off, revealing a large lever. As I stood up and looked over the knife, Tanya reached up and pulled the lever down. The next thing I heard was the sound of an alarm as a pair of yellow lights flickered to life at either side of the door and with a massive sigh, the thick steel doors retracted as faint sunlight streamed through, a single blue line lighting up at the central line of the door, going from the floor to the ceiling along both of the doors. I stood staring at it until the light forced me to look away.

After a few moments I heard Tanya's voice again, this time however it was more concerned. "Get some weapons and a med-kit, hurry!" She yelled, and as my vision cleared I saw the cause. A figure had been propped against the steel of the door, clad in a gold and silver environmental suit, I hardly managed to process that before Tanya scooped him up and over her shoulder, taking off back across the bay with her burden, getting not only some odd looks, but some followers as a pair of grey wolves took off after her, both armed with handguns while another carrying a med-kit, brought up the rear.

I stood there for a moment before looking back out at the battered surface, the whole area was infested by tib, as if to reinforce that I spotted the massive bulk of a Floater slide across the land, a pack of Fiends following close behind. 'This is our home..' I thought for a moment, the true feeling of the situation sinking in. 'At least we have the weapons to take it back.' I thought sadly before walking over to the panel and pulling the lever up, forcing the two doors to grind back together with a thud that echo'd across the desolated land.


	5. Chapter 4 (The Plot Thickens)

It felt like ages since i'd shown up in the vehicle bay, Tanya and her little group had taken the man, a GDI soldier based on his uniform, to the med-bay, I hadn't heard from them while a pair of dingo's who apparently (Somehow) had experience in working with machinery were toying with one of the large walkers and some small pylon-like lattice sitting next to it.

With a pang of curiosity I started walking over towards them as the taller one started fumbling with a small, almost unseeable terminal set into the machines side. He had a curious expression, it was almost like he was unsure of what he was doing, but sure of himself at the same time.

I opened my mouth to ask him if something was bothering him before the lattice sprang to life. A series of bright lights varying from white to blue began moving around the hollow interior of the lattice, near blinding me with its brightness, slowly though, it began to fade and in its place sat a boxy four-by-four jeep with a large caliber cannon of some sort mounted on the railing.

I'd only heard about the machinery Nod and the GDI had for building they're weapons, but I never thought i'd be standing within arms reach of one, my eyes darted from the vehicle to the dingo, who held my gaze for a moment before a faint grin began to crack his muzzle as his own eyes slowly edged back to the jeep.  
My eyes followed his for a moment before the idea struck, we knew nothing about what was outside the bunker. From the way the dingo's grin was growing, it seemed he was thinking something similar.. probably.

With a nod I walked over and gripped the frame of the jeep, pulling myself into some kind of synthetic leather seat, it was relatively comfy, and surprisingly when I went for the ignition, I found it was a push-start system.

With a roar the engine started up, but it didn't appear to have a fuel gauge, it had a temperature gauge, a speedometer, an oil gauge, radio, but no fuel. I stared at the dashboard for a moment before feeling the vehicle shift as the dingo pulled himself up into the bed of the jeep, steadying himself on the large cannon, with a glance over my shoulder I confirmed his smiling status before turning to the second dingo only to see him at the far side of the bay, his hand on the lever.

Laying my hands on the steering wheel I press ed down on the peddle struggling for a moment while I adjusted my leg to work with it for a moment before the jeep pulled forward, tentatively I gave it some gas as I turned towards the massive hanger door and began moving towards it as the lights began flashing to signal it opening.

I continued increasing the speed as we approached the door, giving the smaller dingo a smile as she waved us by, with a grunt the jeep skidded onto the dirt, the tires spinning at the sudden looseness of the ground before finding traction, ahead of us was the remnants of an old road that, as we pulled onto it, seemed to wind around the mountain the compound was hidden in before becoming a three-way road. after a moments hesitation I turned to the left, keeping the mountain on my side as the road edged upwards, quickly becoming a cliff side road until it bottomed out on a surprisingly flat section of the mountain.

For a second I wondered why it appeared the way it did before the jeep jumped, suddenly gaining traction as I took my foot of the gas, bringing the four-wheeler to a somewhat sudden stop as I leaned out and glanced at the ground.

At first I thought I was just on a patch of rock, but that thought soon fled as I saw two distinct rectangular shapes, both separated by a line, and as I looked up, I noticed another, and one more on the passenger side. I let my eyes follow them to the cliff edge, where it seemed they just ended before turning my eyes in the opposite direction, following them to the rocky cliffs and stopped. There were three large doors, just like the ones down below sitting in even spacing with each other.

Slowly I nudged the accelerator and drove towards the center door, the dingo quickly mounting the gun as I came to a stop near the door and dismounted, upholstering the standard 'Viper' handgun i'd pilfered from one of the dead Nod officers quarters and looked over the door. To my surprise it appeared to be almost the same as the bunker door below, granted it had some kind of flat pad leading to the cliff edge, I could only think of two answers. One: it was Nod just doing what it does, or Two: It was some kind of airstrip.

As I thought it over in my head my mind began leaning towards the latter as I found the control switch and quickly pulled it. For a second nothing happened as we stood there, I glanced over my shoulder at the dingo on the gun and all I got from him was a 'So.. What now?' Look.

I shook my head as I turned back to the door just as a series of yellow caution lights began to flash and the door cracked open. I took a step back as the sound of grinding gears and metal hit me, and as I glanced to my sides I could see the other doors opening as well.

Raising my 'Viper' I waited until the doors cycled to a halt, showing nothing but darkness inside. With a flick of my wrist I activated the handgun's flashlight and slowly stalked through the doorway as I with the weapon leveled into the dark.

It felt like I had been walking through the dark for ages when I finally saw the wall, there was a smaller blast door and a fuse-box, the latter of which was open. Quickly I shined the light inside and saw that the switches controlling the fuses had been set to a disconnected position.

With a few flicks I turned to see the hanger light up from front to back, then I froze with a look of shock on my face. Laid out in small indents in the wall was a multitude of fixed wing fighters. Something you wouldn't expect to see in a Red Zone, or even a Yellow Zone because of the violent atmosphere, the storms that ravaged the Zone's would swat anything out of the sky

I was so immersed in trying to figure out how these planes had gotten here that I hardly noticed the dingo rolling forward with a similar expression on his face as he brought the jeep to a halt and hop out. We shared a look before a metallic clank echo'd from the door behind me, I quickly brought my weapon up as the door slid open and revealed a pair of Nod technicians in they're light red and black Vac-suits, one of which was firing behind them with an older GAU-3 as they charged into the bay before dropping to the sides of the door, the unarmed one holding his arms up to shield his masked face while the other leaned into the hall before dropping with an audible grunt, quickly going still.

With a pair of steps i leaned down next to the dead tech and glanced at his shattered face-plate while the dingo brought his pistol to bear on the live one, giving me a look as he motioned to the man with his handgun. with a glance at the dingo I muttered. "Dont kill him, he might have answers." Just loud enough for him to hear before I edged to the door and peeked in.

The hallway beyond was frighteningly similar to the one from the bunker, the main difference being that there was a very large gun only inches away from my face, and the eyes behind that gun were full of shock and oddly enough, surprise. In a flash my hands were in motion as the person wielding the rifle opened fire, unloading the clip into the ceiling before the butt of it was thrust into my chest, sending me flat on my back with my viper at the ready.

* * *

'Damned techie's, they shouldn't even be fighting.' The dingo thought as he tied up the unconscious technician he couldn't help but frown. He for one wasn't one for being in the open with nothing more then a thin vest for protection, he'd rather be in something with heavy armor around him. 'I wonder if that machine back at the bunker can make something bigger then eh..' His train of thought would stop as his partner slides to a stop just off to his left, his gun trained on something in the hall. A with little more then the sound of breathing and machinery around them, the figure in the hall would step into view with a more heavyset one in full armor just behind her.

The figure was obviously female and wearing a familiar style of grey digital camo with a matching officers beret, however the woman's body was most definitely not human, but it wasn't the same as the dingo or his friend. Instead this woman had bright amber eyes and a more sloped muzzle with shorter, sharper looking ears and a few visible dark brown spots across her golden-brown furred arms. If anything she appeared to be more along the line of some sort of felidia, like a Lynx or a Bobcat. The larger of the pair in pure black armor and matching fatigues would step forward, its weapon lowered to a ready position as the woman reloads her rifle, holding it up towards the ceiling. "Alright, who are you?"


	6. Chapter 5 (The Shadow of Hassan)

The growl of three 4-cylinder engines filled the barren mutated valley as three vehicles made their way along the winding, broken mountain road. The cork-like tires of the lead jeep, or Ranger as it was marked on the steering column, led the way while two large 6-wheeled cargo trucks followed close behind. The growl of their electric powered 8-cylinder engines seemed surprisingly mute when compared to the jeep. Though unlike the smaller 4x4, the trucks were carrying much more weight. At least three dozen forms were packed under the tarp-covered truck beds, along with large amounts of food, ammunition, and medical supplies that had been commandeered from the base on the bluff above them.

In the lead jeep the familiar form of the Dingo and his 'Commander' sat, the latter driving while the prior kept an eye on the hogtied Nod technitian lying in the bed of the jeep. In the passenger seat the odd woman sat with her arms crossed over her armored chest, a look of disdain visible as she watched the passing terrain, most of it mutated or covered by glowing tiberium.

It was an odd picture to be certain, old world military vehicles being driven by what amounted to a 'Blue Earth' age fantasy and driven through a Red Zone of all places; and yet it was happening. The self-appointed leader of this rather well equipped force, a woman by the name of Kirrana Mirribel, had found herself in a position to relocate her people to a more sustainable location at the words of what amounted to a random man telling her they'd be welcomed. She, of course, believed it to be some sort of Nod trap, but from the lack of hostility and the more obvious lack of incoming fire.. She was starting to feel something that had been robbed from her nearly thirty years prior. As she watched the terrain slip by.. She felt hope. Here she was, mutated by Nod and condemned to be different, robbed of her humanity and left with something alien in its place.

'And yet..' she wondered for a moment, her amber eyes closing as she thought, these two men. .I could have killed both of them, but I didn't. This frustrated her as she thought back to the hanger. She had had the vulpine in her sights, her digit on the GAU-3's trigger, but even then, it would have taken her just pulling that small piece of steel back, but why didn't she. Opening her eyes again, she glanced at the orange furred man's. 'He's not much to look at, she mused as the jeep hit a small bump. The vehicle rising off the road for a moment before landing with hardly a swerve. 'At the very least, he's a skilled driver.' She thought as the ruined road finally leveled out and the convoy hit even ground, the road seemed to be in better condition than the mountain-side path, and for a moment a flicker of confusion was visible on the vulpine's face. His blue eyes hardening as the column began picking up speed on the smooth flat surface.

Letting her eyes drift it wasn't hard to understand why it was such a smooth ride. The road itself, while not retaining any markings or lines, was undeniably now. The black flat-top seemingly reinforced with what looked like concrete. 'Concrete..' She thought briefly before standing up and looking over the windshield. The air was blowing past her hard enough that she had to fold her ears back while she scanned the horizon, her amber gaze hardening on an odd shape ahead of the convoy and off the road, directly inside of a glowing blue tiberium field. Maybe she was too trusting...

Risking a downward glance at the vulpine she could see her expression mirrored by him. He didn't seem to know what the object was either. But the doubt seemed to slowly drift away as the convoy drew nearer, and the object became more easily visible. It was an older style Harvester vehicle, probably from the first war based on the cylindrical design. In all honesty, it was just a tiberium holding tank with four titanium wheels, an armored cockpit, and an array of automated mining tools mounted on its front to cut apart the tib and draw it underneath the vehicle, where it would be pulled up into the tank.

The sight of this vehicle alone would be an oddity due to the more advanced harvesters available to GDI, Nod, or even GloboTech. But what really drew her attention to the vehicle was its color scheme, and the four figures following in its wake. The guards seemed as well armed as her own men, maybe even moreso. They were dressed in some sort of blue combat uniform with an armored vest and the almost iconic form of a GAU-3 in the hands of each. They followed the lumbering blue harvester, its massive size and older design making its speed little faster than ten miles an hour, maybe fifteen. 'Well.. That's a new sight.. If not unwelcome.' She thought with a grin. If these people were smart enough to get patrols and even harvesting operations going, she'd be more than willing to bring the rest of her people down from the bluff. As it stood, the only one's present were combat personnel, her best soldiers.

But seeing how the harvester guards hardly raised a weapon towards the convoy, and even waved to them as they passed, that all but convinced her that this was not a Nod ambush. Continuing along the road the convoy finally pulled off the main road and onto what had once been another broken dirt path riddled with stones and broken terrain. Now, however, it was a newly paved roadway that ended ahead at a massive steel gate with high concrete walls stretching out on either side. It connected with the cliff-faces on either side of the low canyon. Glancing once again at the vulpine it was growingly clear that all this was new to him as well, how did they construct all this in under a day.. Hours even?

Shaking her head, she simply watched as the massive gate lowered itself into the ground. Her eyes flickered over the emblazoned falcon on the gate, watching its golden form as the metallic colored steel barrier slipped into the ground to reveal a very unfamiliar scene. The entire section of ground between the wall and the bunker entrance from cliff-wall to cliff-wall had been covered in concrete and dozens of unarmored canine-like men and women were moving from structure to structure, some older first war power plants were visible while some sort of bunker-like structures were placed in uniform lines along the road to the bunker, light posts placed in between each while in the far back portion of the fortress sat the spire of a refinery, the lumbering form of a harvester and its detail moving towards the road.

However, that wasn't what drew her full attention, wide eyed she stared at one spot near the bunkers, the only part of the base not covered by concrete. A single steel flagpole stood within a circle surrounded by concrete, a blue banner emblazoned with a white triangular falcon shook in the growing breeze. However it was the circle itself that held her gaze. Surrounded by faintly shimmer air was four meters of green, well-trimmed grass... Grass. Such a thing was hardly seen outside of the well-off Yellow Zones and the Blue Zones of GDI and GloboTech. Shaking her head, she tore her gaze from the greenery as the jeep pulled off the road and slowed to a halt in front of a large structure with a massive arch-like door and a crane attached to it.

The trucks slowly followed suite as the soldiers dismounted, their weapons held readily in the hands of their owners, as they stared at the well-built facilities with obvious awe. Stifling a sigh, she couldn't blame them. What she was seeing was far from what she'd expected based on the vulpine's words.. They seemed to have improved while he was away.

'Speaking of..' She thought, glancing back at the drivers side of the jeep, only to frown at the lack of an occupant. Looking over the growing crowd of blue uniformed bodies she spotted the vulpine with a dusty brown furred woman in a more dress version of the uniform. It was hard to tell, but it obviously wasn't a combat uniform. Taking a moment she shook her head and started pushing her way into the crowd.

* * *

I stood staring down at the gilded golden falcon in my padded hand. The warm conditioned air of the newly built command center felt more then comfortable compared to the oppressive atmosphere outside. The calm cyan colored lights illuminate the map table in the center of the room. A number of non-combat personnel in their newly manufactured dress uniforms manned the four terminals against the far wall, headsets perched comfortably on their heads as they went about directing the three patrols and two harvester teams currently outside the wall. "Your joking, right?" I finally ask, giving Filis an unsure glance.

She just grinned back, the faint lines of inert tiberium lacing down the front of her muzzle before disappearing beneath her navy dress uniform, a similar looking pair of falcons pinned to her uniform. The patrols moved slowly on the map screen under her in a three dimensional form, the canyons and road-ways shown in a cool blue depiction. "Oh, I am quite serious. You and I both know that we need to establish order fast, a hierarchy is the best way of maintaining it." She replied. It was true, without a solid line of command there would be little chance in a Yellow Zone, god pray it be in a Red.

"Isn't there anyone else?" I asked only to receive a shake of her head. "Not many.. Nod bred grunts and mechanics, not leaders." Again, she had a point.. I could almost feel like my options aside from agreeing were very, very low. With a sigh I closed my hand around the commanders identifiers. "I don't know.. I've never led anything bigger then a salvage operation before." I said, bracing myself against the map table and leaning towards Filis, the blue glow of the map highlighting the beige neck-fur of myself.

At that Filis opened her mouth when a harsh buzz interrupted her. A pair of red icons appeared on the map below us in the vicinity of the farthest Harvester team. At a glance I could see that whatever it was seemed to be making a beeline for the team as the two reds rapidly began to approach the cyan markers of the team. Filis seemed to spurn into action at this. Raising her hand to the communicator bead placed on her right ear she tapped it. "Harvest Team Alpha, status report." She stated, her usual kind tone immediately being replaced by an authoritarian, commanding tone.

After a moment of static the speakers of map table kicked on as a small window opened to reveal something akin to a grey timber wolf in some sort of navy colored armor and a matching ballistic helm strapped to his chin in a disciplined fashion, something akin to a professional soldier or an experienced veteran. _"Situation Normal, no contacts Command."_ He responded. The harvester passed slowly behind him with two of the troopers following in similar armored garb, GAU-3's held at the ready. "Alpha be advised, we have two contacts making head-way towards your harvester. Prepare for possible hostile contact" Filis stated. The two contacts continued their approach, the markers forming into an identifiable shape. As they approached, I simply narrowed my eyes at the sight. "Attack bikes, its a Nod raider team." I growled, pushing myself off the map table and making for the door as it opened and I dodged around the shape of someone entering. Quickening my pace I moved down the hall and through the heavy steel doors of the main entrance and out into the open air just as the siren's mounted near the gate started up. They filled the air with a chilling whine. Over the sound of the sirens a number of the men and women in the open began moving for cover, while others moved outside in various states of readiness.

Making my way to the nearest jeep, I mounted up and stomped the throttle and sped across the concrete to the largest mass of personnel in my way before screeching to a stop and waving to them. "Mount up we've got'a go!" I yelled over the shrill of the sirens. About three seconds later four pairs of boots met either the passenger's floormat or the bed of the jeep as the three wolves braced themselves, one on either side of the Ranger, and one on the mounted fifty caliber of the jeep. In the passenger seat however was a blue uniformed female wolf with a white armored vest and a matching ballistic helm. She had a rather obvious beige medical kit on her lap as she fastened her helmet in place. "What the hells going on?" Came the harsh toned voice of one of the wolves. As the jeep began rolling towards the gate, the massive steel fortification lowered itself as our speed grew, and another two jeeps rounded the barracks bunkers to fall in behind our ranger.

I hardly managed to open my muzzle when the commanding voice of Filis echo'd in my, and by extention most other men and women nearby, as she broadcast over the local comm-net that seemed to connect the base and our patrols. _"All units this is Central Command, Nod attack confirmed to the west. Commander Tel'akt will oversee the battle. Set communications to frequency twelve and await orders if you are engaged."_ She stated in her direct tone. Suppressing a grin I reached over and turned the knob of the ranger's on-board radio from channel One to Twelve and picked up the radio set, sliding it on. "Testing testing.. All units report." I said, the mike recognizing my voice and transmitting it to all of the radio's set to my frequency. Next to me the medic seemed to be struggling with hers while the sound of three separate clicks from behind me announced the wolves had set theirs.

_"Corporal Derision here, I have a Ranger and my buddy manning the fifty, awaiting orders." _Came a rather young sounding tone, and quickly a flurry of others joined in. _"Sergeant Mccain here, I'm in the Ranger behind you, I've got two riflemen and a driver." __"Alpha team, taking suppressive fire from two attack bikes but we're holding strong." "Shadow One, ready to rain death from the skies."_ That last one gave me pause, the voice was definitely female and there was a shrill whine in the background, as my impromptu attack force continued speeding towards the combat area. "Shadow One, What exactly are you bringing?" I asked as a low roar started growing over the rumble of the Rangers.

_"I'm bringing the best Mirribel has for you.. My Stinger is packing a Vulcan and three pairs of AMMRAAM missiles, I'll await tasking above the clouds" s_he finished. A dark shape passed over and entered the Ion thick clouds above with little regard for the high winds and dangerous Ion threat they posed. 'Ballsy.. I'll giver her that.' I thought, replying. "Copy that Shadow One, Command how are we looking?" I asked, spotting the faint outline of smoke on the horizon. _"We have confirmed Nod units, Alpha Team is under fire and falling back with their harvester. Additional Nod forces are inbound from the direct west.. Hang on, incoming transmission."_ She stated. A rush of static brought a pained wince to my face, eventually fading into a harsh Egyptian-sounding voice. _**"Attention mutant scum.. You are guilty of theft from our glorious leader. We will purge you for your sins against Hassan's rule. For Hassan!"**_ he finally cried out in something akin to zealous commitment.

A few seconds passed before I finally spoke. "Who?" The sputtering sound I heard brought a smile to my muzzle as we closed in on the harvester and increased speed. I passed over an obscuring hill, revealing the conflict in full. The original two Nod attack bikes were firing their missiles at extreme range at the harvester, while the armored infantrymen around it exchanged fire. Their bursts of fire were keeping the bikes far enough away to make their missiles almost ineffective. "Alright boys, lets clear house." I said, earning a myriad of affirmatives as the jeeps behind me sped up and bore down on the bikes, their gunners and passengers firing respectively, riddling the now outnumbered Nod bikes with the already dangerous rifle rounds and the even heavier Ranger mounted guns.

The results were immediate. The closest of the bikes suddenly found its front sheared in half, sending the black and purple combat motor-cycle pin-wheeling across the cracked terrain before detonating as its remaining missiles cooked off, destroying the remains and whatever was left of the biker. The second one however quickly slid as its breaks clicked and accelerated away from the harvester with the two rangers in close pursuit. Leaving them to the hunt I pulled my jeep to a halt next to the harvester and let the medic dismount and move to one of the few injuries, a trooper sporting a shrapnel wound in his shoulder, while I gave the team a once over.

The sound of an explosion on the far side of the harvester marked the fate of the run-away bike as the two jeeps crossed back into sight and eventually slowed to a stop next to mine. "Targets down commander, anything else you want.. Coffee maybe?" Came the youthful voice of Corporal Derision. The tan dingo leaned out of his seat with a bright, toothy smile at me, his unbuttoned fatigue top and ragged hair only adding to the look. "Not right now Corporal, maybe after the threats dealt with." I said as the medic came back into view and slid into her seat with a smile on her muzzle.

"That everyone?" I asked as a burst of rifle fire ricochet off the hood of the Ranger. I bailed out and drew my viper and clicked off the safety as the wolves dove for the ground, one of them returning fire with the mounted MG on the source in an attempt to suppress before dropping to the ground with a grunt as two rounds impacted his vest and threw him to the dust. Hardly a hear-beat later the medic was with him, checking for any wounds. A roar of rifle fire and a shotgun tore the air alongside one of the Rangers fifties, easily mowing down the half dozen Nod militants that had popped up over the hill. "Report, anyone hit!" I called out as the fire ceased. and again got a line of Negatives and the thunder of some sort of heavy weapons. A pair of Nod Scorpion tanks crossed the hill and opened fire, a dozen or so militants advancing under the heavy guns of the reletivly light tanks. "Suppress those forces!" I yelled, breaking from the clustered mass of jeeps to duck behind a cluster of rocks.

Seeing this, the two timber wolves and the medic with their wounded squad-mate followed, while the Corporal's Ranger spun past, dirt and rock shooting from under its tires as it maneuvered away from the cluster of vehicles. Hardly a second later the shell of one of the Scorpions struck the front of my near-abandoned Ranger, consuming the vehicle in a firestorm of flame and flying steel.

"Dammit, we're outgunned. Shadow One, are you able to support?" I asked, only to receive static and another nearby detonation as the tanks began to range in on our position. "Command, we're under heavy fire from hostile tanks, need support." I said and again, static. 'Are you shitting me?' "Anyone, we are taking heavy fire from Nod armor, we need support dammit!" I finally yelled as a shell impacted the far side of the rock, the explosion blasting past my squad with a searing heat wave.

_"Commander be advised, Allied reinforcements have arrived."_ I'd hardly had a moment to think over what the voice of Filis had said. When the hill exploded.

* * *

_-**Thirty-two minutes earlier**._

The familiar muzzle of the dingo was stuck in a wide grin as he rubbed his hand along the piece of metal plating ahead of him. Almost in the way a father would touch his first-borne child for the first time, and in all honesty it was a pretty accurate depiction. It'd taken nearly twenty minutes of modifying blueprints and getting access to the lattice to finally constructing his masterpiece. He'd wanted speed, armor, and firepower all in one package and the tan colored armored mass in front of him was his answer.

The tank itself held the look of its original template, the GDI M1A1 Abrams. However that's where the similarities ended. In the place of pressed steel and hardened rubber treads, the tank was entirely remade in more modern materials with titanium treads and increased armor along its flanks. Its main gun had received an upgrade from the standard 105-mm cannon, to a much larger 120-mm main gun, with a newly designed autoloader, completely removing the need for a loader, while the commander now acted as both the commander and the gunner through an optical piece that could be used either by goggles or on a helmet.

This made the already considerable speed and armor of the Abrams more lethal, while lowering the crew requirement from three or four, to a solid two. Needless to say a number of like-minded men had already gathered to see it, and not five minutes later the newly received resources from the refinery were being put to use as the three lattice' began running with a small crowd gathered around. The selected pairs of crew already donned their newly designed AFV crew helmets, which bore a resemblance to the old Russian style tankers helms of the second war, mostly due to the various ear sizes that had to be accounted for poking through custom made holes in the padded helmets, the armored buffers molding seamlessly to their skulls while still providing protection from the possible injuries of a rapidly moving armored vehicle's interior.

A few seconds later the machines halted and the vehicles were pushed out onto the bay floor. It was almost half a meter wider then a normal M1A1 and easily a meter longer, but this didn't bother the new crews in the slightest. As they mounted up, the selected Commanders dropped through the open hatches and attached the eyepeices to their helmets, while the drivers slid through a small hatch under the gun barrel and settled into the redesigned interior. Much of the tanks' functions had been vastly dumbed down to two pedals, a gear shifter, and an immobile steering wheel for the driver to brace against, while the commanders had a similar dumbing down so that even untrained crewmen could operate the tank with practically no training. The fact that the eye-piece responded to vocal commands may have also helped.

The crews had hardly started looking over their vehicles when the shrilling alarms started, and the announcement hit them. It'd taken only a few minutes to get underway and the armored column maintained a solid, if shaky, line formation. They sped across the barren terrain with dust kicking up behind them. "Alright boys, remember that by default those cannons are set to High Explosive.. But you've got High Explosive Anti Tank and some Burner rounds as well, make use of them if you have to." He said, his hearty laugh breaking the silence between the nervous, newly-minted tankers. _"Burner rounds, the hell are those?"_ Came a reply from one of the gunners. "A little ironic twist for Nod, it burns hotter and longer then their napalm." He responded with a grin as a pair of 'Oooh's echo'd in his headset.

The tanks slowed slightly as they reached a hill and pulled themselves upwards to the peak. A pair of Nod tanks were visible below them with almost a dozen infantry in support. "Contacts.. All units target here, here.. and here." He said as his command interface highlighted the target points within the Nod formations, the two tanks and the largest cluster of infantry. "War Dog Three, load Burner. Two and Four load HEAT." He stated while lining up his barrel with the outlying cluster of infantry. _"Burners loaded!" "We're hot sir!" "High Explosive Anti Tank loaded, ready to fire." _Shifting inside his cupola, an almost menacing smile lit the dim interior. "Fire for effect." He said, and nearly two and a twelfth of a second later the hill detonated in spectacular fashion as the rounds tore through the Tiberium proof armor of the Nod light tanks. The turrets and mounted Flak cannons on top of them exploded as the ammunition within cooked off from the force of the tungsten carbide rod barreling through with its mini-firestorm following a millisecond later, piercing both sides of the tank like a nail-gun through a piece of tissue paper.

The infantry weren't much better off as the Burner shells impacted the ground, coating them in the feiry death that is white phosphorous. They spent the last seconds of their lives in extreme pain before the ammunition on them detonated, killing the lucky ones and maiming the unlucky, but within seconds they too passed on. The few who survived found themselves vastly outmatched. A pair of Ranger broke from behind the Harvester and closed with them, the mounted guns tearing apart any that stood against them, and easily felling the few who tried to run. What had been one of Nods most vaunted advantages had been usurped. They didn't have the element of surprise, or superior firepower, even if it was holding the superior technology.

"Well.. I don't know about you lads, but I think that went well. Command, War Dog is in the field and awaiting orders." He said as the comm beeped and two voices flowed through. _"-elling you, its there." "Alright alright.. Captain De'locke, you have new orders." _Filis said, the voice of Tanya easily heard in the background. "Alright, send 'em." He replied. _"Commander Tel'akt has been tasked with locating an abandoned military base somewhere to the North-West. According to Tanya it should have an uplink to an orbital recon satellite. If we can get that online we'll have a greater understanding of our situation. Your orders are as follows, proceed West with your armored forces and engage these Hassan' fanatics and keep them engaged until the Commander can bring the base online, assuming its still there."_ She finished. 'Huh, short harsh and to the point.. I can deal with that.' He thought as he disabled the eye-piece and popped the hatch above him, emerging into the harsh outside environment.

'Oh I can deal..' He smiled. "All War Dog units, roll out!" He signaled, adding a motion to advance for effect. Rumbling forward he dropped back in the tank and re-emerged with a banner he'd planned to fix to the antenna earlier, but with a peaceful moment seemingly far away, this was the best time. With a few quick movements he secured the blue banner to the main antenna, the flag flapped wildly as the tank picked up speed. "Alright.. Lets go boys, we've got Noddies to hunt!" He called, earning a number of yells from his crews. Dropping back down he sealed the hatch and re-engaged his optic. 'Here we go..'


	7. Chapter 6 (Eye in the Sky)

**_ 45_****° by ****_11_**

**Case Grandi**

**Fourteen miles South of Bolonga, Italy.**

The Corandello' Garage, during the years before the formation of GDI and even before the start of the Second World War, was a site of kind minded mechanics and food-makers who would fix someone's vehicle, from the smallest chrome coated car, to the largest truck for a single low price. The cars owner would have been able to purchase freshly made food, from pizza to stews and any drink they could imagine. A business made to stand the test of time, and from the look of the worn red bricks and tile flooring of the building and the faded wrench sign outside proved that the business had stood, even as tiberium ravaged the land it stood and still stood despite the loss of customers, and the loss of its owners.

Outside a massive dust-storm raged on the other side of the thick, dirt caked glass windows as the hurricane force winds dragged at the ruined buildings of the town, the gutted skeletons of the houses across the street barely visible whenever a strike of ion heavy lightning struck ground-ward.

After the recent skirmish and the advise of Filis, I'd put together a small crew, six riflemen, two engineers, a mechanic, and a very familiar medic with a fully restocked medical kit. It'd taken the better part of three hours to navigate the ruined roads and tiberium spires before we'd been forced to find shelter as the ion storm formed, the large six wheeled transport truck and my new Ranger barely fitting in the spacious work area of the garage as the storm finally hit, the force of it shaking the sign outside like a pine tree in the wind.

That had been two hours ago, the engineers, Simmons and Benedict had taken the better part of ten minutes to repair the stations generator and get the lights working while the medic, a kind woman by the name of Eillina, had taken to the small kitchen on the far side of the station with half the riflemen and Sergeant Mccain to try and make a meal out of some of the MRE's we'd brought. Based on the lack of shouting or anything I suppose it was going well.

The mechanic was probably in the garage with one of the riflemen, while the other two were chatting it up by the cashiers counter, their helmets lying flat on the granite as they laughed. Shaking my head I continued to watch the storm for a moment before pushing slowly off the decayed wall and headed for the kitchen, my quiet, quick gait lost to the groan of the wind outside as I caught a flash of brown through the small circular window of the swinging door as I slowed to a stop and pushed my way through.

The first thing to hit me was the pleasantly tasty scent in the dusty air. It was something between beef 'n beans, and southern style chillie. Standing around a dull looking stain-less steel table in the center of the kitchen were the two engineers, both coyotes, and Mccain's dark grey form. The big man, and I use that in literal terms thanks to him standing two feet over myself, was sipping from a olive cloth covered canteen as he ate his Meal Ready to Eat, or MRE. The other two seemed more interested in something on the side of the table however.

following their gaze I almost had to sigh, sitting on her knee's taking inventory of her medical kit was the medic, or 'Doc' as she like being called. She wasn't wearing any armor this time due to the lack of bullets, or conflict, which left her in her fitted fatigue uniform with her tail flicking from side to side as she silently checked her kit. She didn't seem to notice the rather obvious stares, or if she did then she didn't show it.

'Maybe she enjoys the attention?' I pondered, after we defeat Nod here.. What would we do? Its almost a guarantee that most of the people with us would want to try living normal lives, but with all the advantages they'd have now thanks to the mutations.. As well as the disadvantages. After all, who would want an eight foot tall talking canine as your neighbor? Moreso, what about the mutations themselves. Nod wouldn't want to have to go through this process every single time to make more soldiers, would they?

As I considered it, I couldn't help but let my gaze flow to her tail for a moment before I physically shook my head, banishing the thoughts for the moment. 'There's a time and a place to think about that..' I thought with a frown before a small smile grew as I walked to the table and picked up one of the extra MRE's and moved around the table, putting myself in the direct line of sight with 'Doc's uniformed rump, much to the disappointment of the two coyote's. Mccain however had a glint of laughter in his eyes despite his lack of outside reaction to my movement.

"Something wrong you two?" I asked, a growing grin on my muzzle as they simply dropped their gaze and continue eating. Shrugging I cast a glance at Mccain, who simply shrugged back. The sound of a metallic click and a quiet sigh signaled Eillina's movements as she walked past me, her case in hand as she headed towards the storage room door and stepped through.

Giving the door a quick look I shrugged and opened the MRE, removing the packaged silverware and reactive slip for a moment before simply dropping the strip back in, my hand dropping to the small silver canteen on my belt as I unclipped it and started unscrewing the cap to reveal the sparkling water within. Tilting the canteen I let a thin trickle of water drop into the thick plastic of the bag before quickly closing it as the water reacted with the strip and began heating the meal inside.

Leaning against the table I took a sip from the canteen as Mccain put his spoon down on the worn stain-less steel tabletop. "So Commander.. Any idea where this base is?" I sighed, Mccain may be a good guy.. But he did have that annoying habit of repeatedly asking the same question. Closing the canteen I put it off to the side and unbuttoned my right breast pocket, removing the map within and unfolding it before placing my index finger on the airport sixty-three miles from the station.

"The base should be set up here.." I said, tracing over the northern section of the airfield before tapping on it for enfaces. "We assume its here, but without any solid intel I have to estimate.. If its there, then we have a solid chance to actually gain intel on Nod, maybe even get an advantage for once." I said. "And we're doing all this based on a guess?" He said. I remained silent. After all, the mission was a long shot with the shoddiest intel I'd ever heard. The base should be here, go find it and bring it online.

And yet.. "That's exactly right." I responded.

A short grunt from Mccain sounded his understanding. "I suppose we should get some rest then?" He mutters after a moments hesitation, stretching his arms over his head with an audible 'pop'ing sound. Nodding I lean forward on the table, looking over the map again. "I suppose so, storm seems like it'll be going for another few hours.. Maybe more." It was a half-truth, I have no idea how long the storm may last but with the sporadic nature of the Ion storms in Italy..

Mentally I shook my head, without the right equipment I'm left to guessing and gut instinct, and my gut told me that it would take some time for the storm to pass. "You three get some rest.. I'll take watch." Standing up I pushed the chair behind me off to the side against the table and refolded the map, holding it loosely in my right hand while taking the rest of my bagged MRE in my left as I walked back through the door to the front of the store, the door creaking behind me as it swung closed.

The two riflemen were still sitting around talking but had moved from the counter to a roadhouse style stall set next to one of the worn out windows, both of them watching through the stained glass while idly talking about something. Ignoring the two I made my way to a stall set on the other side of the storefront, also set against a window and eased into the cracked red and white patterned bench, the old leather cracking in a few places from my weight. Surprisingly despite its appearance, the bench wasn't that uncomfortable, it definitely wasn't something one would really want to sleep on, but it was a decent seat at least.

Placing the map on the table I slowly unfolded it, smoothing out some of the creases that had formed from the way it was held while I set my food off to the side and went back to work. My warm amber gaze narrowing as I looked the chart over.

* * *

Groaning I rotated my jaw, soreness radiating from it as I sat up in the stall and rubbed my eyes with my right hand. Turning my head I could see that the storefront was still occupied by the two riflemen, both of whom were occupying the same stall as before. Both seemed to be asleep, their booted legs sticking out while the beige cloth of their sleeping bags hung over the edge of their benches.

Looking down I sighed quietly, wiping some saliva off the map in front of me. Glancing out the window it seemed as though the storm was finally over, or had at least calmed down somewhat. The grimness of the dark clouds above seeming all too familiar to me as I refolded the map and put it away, my eyes drifting to the used MRE bag on the table for a moment.

Shaking my head I pulled myself out of the stall, my legs shaking for a moment as blood flowed back to them. It was time to move. With this thought in my mind I made my way across the storefront to the two sleeping bags, clapping my hands together as I did. "Wake up you two, we're moving out.." I said, walking past them. The two wolven growling in irritation as I did, but from the sounds of movement I assumed they were indeed getting up.

Continuing on through the kitchen door, I made my way toward the back and stepped into the garage where I found all seven of the others, the three riflemen and Mccain were sitting in the back of the cargo truck playing cards while the mechanic was propped up against a crate on his sleeping bag, snoring loudly. The two engineers were both awake and looking over some machinery in the corner of the garage. Nodding I rested my hands on my hips, looking over the group when a thought crossed my mind. 'Hang on.. Wheres Eillina?' Turning my gaze on the sergeant I called out. "Mccain, where's the Doc?"

Much to my surprise the Non-Com shrugged in response. "Haven't seen her since dinner." Okay, thats odd.. Shaking my head I turned back to the door, calling out over my shoulder. "Get the trucks ready to move, i'll go find her." With a number of affirmatives and other signs of acknowledgement I stepped through, my eyes shifting to the storage room door. 'Only other place she could be.' I thought, walking over to it with my hands swaying by my sides, my right one rising up and gripping the handle as I reached it.

Pushing the door open I found said hand reaching for the Viper handgun holstered at my waist. The room was full of old boxes resting on metal grate shelves, mold and other such things having infested them long ago, but resting in the center of the room was what had my attention, there was a large circle of bed sheets, obviously old and stained from the passage of time and resting on them were two beings, one was Eillina in her blue fatigues, while the other.. wasn't.

The thing Eillina was resting against was easily the size of herself and had distinctly canine features in its bodily shape, it was a quadruped with thick black fur, a long muzzle and a short black tail, but what set it apart from a normal dog was its size and two other noticeable things, the first and most obvious was the mass of glowing red tiberium emerging from its back giving it a clearly menacing look while the second was the two large tusks emerging from the right and left sides of its head, just below its ears and angled upwards just below its jaws.

Behind me the door slowly closed with a click and a pair of deep crimson eyes slide open, watching me as the Fiend's head slowly rose above Eillina, the movement stirring her and drawing the beasts attention. As it looked down at her I drew my Viper and brought it on target as the fiends head suddenly dropped down in front of the doctor, blocking her from view.. It almost seemed as if it was doing so protectively.

Narrowing my eyes I pulled the trigger.. And immediately felt bad about it. the round flew true and struck the fiend in the side of the neck only to clatter to the ground as it flattened against the mutants skin, skin I quickly remembered is capable of taking shots from light tanks and heavy weapons fire before being penetrated. Behind the fiend Eillina's sleep heavy voice called out. "Wha- wait, stop!" and much to my surprise, I saw a pair of arms cross over the neck of the fiend, which was glaring at me with an almost irritated look in its eyes.

Seeing little option, I kept my handgun pointed at target. "Eillina.. Get away from that thing." I growled, only to receive a growl in return from the large mutant which quickly stopped at the sound of Eillina's voice in its ear, her face coming up next to it and causing its angered expression to fade to something more akin to caution. Rising up from behind the beast, she glared at me. "Its alright.. Coal wont hurt me." Her words caused my hands to lower toward the ground, less in understanding but from confusion.

It was then I noticed one detail about the fiend that hadn't stuck out too much, resting around its neck was an old chain that seemed to be infused with the tiberium on its back, thin lines of the crimson mineral sponge running along the chains surface in places while a small steel plate hung from its neck. It was too far for me to see.. But from Eillina's words, I had a good idea of what was on it.

"Eillina.. This is a fiend.. Not a stray dog." Much to my surprise the fiend's glare lightened and it pressed itself back, its head resting against Eillina's waist.. Dare I say it, it was acting like a lost pet, and suddenly another thought struck me. If this mutant had wanted to kill me, why didn't it just impale me with its tib shards, considering that was something fiends were known to do.

Slowly I lowered the pistol as Eillina brought herself down to level with the fiend's head, scratching it behind its ears like one would do to a domestic dog, and much to my surprise it pushed its head forward, careful enough to not accidentally impale her with its tusks, and nuzzled her. All the while she stared at me with an odd look, her eyes wide and pleading.

Seconds ticked by as I thought it over, a tiberian fiend was a well known danger in most portions of the world, but they could and have been domesticated.. 'and they're immensely loyal to their owners..' If thought, remembering an old saying from a mutant soldier i'd met as a teen. He'd always talked about the fiends in a kind way, much like an Indian of america would speak of a wolf back in the old times.

Sighing I shook my head, my left hand leaving the pistols grip while the right holstered it. "Your sure he wont hurt us.. Right?" Her response was swift. "I'm certain." As if in reinforcement of her words, the fiend.. Coal, barked loudly, pulling away from Eillina and slowly walking up to me. Still wary of it I let my hand rest on the grip of my pistol as it approached and slowed to a stop merely a foot away from me, its crimson gaze meeting my amber eyes for a few seconds before it suddenly leaned forward and pressed its head against my leg.

Staring down at it I hesitated, still looking down at it until I finally moved my hand to meet it. Its fur was soft, and actually seemed rather thin. It was a simple touch, but it was enough as the fiend slowly pulled back from me, its gaze rising back up to meet mine as Eillina walked up next to it.. him, and slid her right hand across his back. Giving off something between a purr and a growl he leaned against her and let his tongue hang out.

Taking the moment to step back I nodded to Eillina. "I'll tell the rest of the team.. We're moving out now." Pushing open the door I made my way back to the garage and arrived just in time to see the mechanic load a set of tools into the ranger, the rest of the team standing around near the cargo truck. At my entrance they almost all turned towards me. "Alright.. We've got a new addition guys, and try not to freak out too much about him." The eight men and women looked at each other, then back to me as the door opened behind me and the sound of six feet walked in.

The shock on everyone's faces was clearly displayed and a few of them were looking at me as if I were crazy. "Its alright.. Coal wont hurt us, i've been assured of that." I turned my head to face Eillina at that while she simply dipped her head in acknowledgment. "He wont." she replied, Turning back to the group I clapped my hands together. "Come on, we're going now. Someone open up the door!" I yelled as I made my way up to the ranger, the mechanic quickly opening the door via a chain next to it.

Sliding into the drivers seat of the jeep I felt the weight shift as Eillina hopped in the back, her fiend joining her quickly after while the mechanic took the passengers seat. Leaning out I looked back at the truck behind us and received a thumbs up from Mccain in the drivers seat. With that, I turned back and started up the engine, easing the Ranger out onto the cracked asphalt followed quickly by the cargo truck, all that was left was the dead city of Bolonga, long abandoned by human life and infested by Tiberium.

With a roar the vehicles turned onto the road and made their way toward the north, following the main road toward the old highway. It offered the best, and fastest chance of reaching the base. All along the way I kept my eyes peeled for any sort of trickery, the hills on either side of the valley we were situated in would be perfect perches for snipers or armored vehicles while behind him he could hear Coal shifting before jumping out, much to the surprise of Eillina as he hit the ground, and began to trot alongside the speeding vehicles.

Sighing I turned my focus back to navigating the damaged roads, the vehicles tires carrying it easily over the ruined terrain. A few minutes later the small convoy made it to the highway, and another half hour later they were pulling through the ruined gates of the airport, the ruined remains of military aircraft and a few civilian airliners lining the taxiway while the ruined terminal building sat abandoned, on the other side of the runway however was a second taxiway where a number of ruined concrete buildings stood, some of them sharing designs with the buildings that made up the base back at the bunker while others looked larger and blockier with the exception of one that looked more like an oversized black chair with faded blue markings set across its center.

Pulling across the runway and stopping in front of the odd black and blue structure, I shut off the engine and dismounted as Coal stopped next to the jeep, panting loudly but showing no signs of tiring. With a hiss of hydraulics the cargo truck came to a halt on the side of the Ranger and the team inside quickly filed out the riflemen looking to me for a few seconds until I motioned to the large chair-like building. "Check this one, i'm sure its what we're here for." I said and quickly the team unshouldered their rifles and fanned out on the way to the buildings main doors, both of which were jammed open.

Pausing for a moment I turned my head to Mccain and the engineering team. "Benedict, your with us. Mccain, you take the rest and get one of those powerplants online.. I get the feeling we'll need the juice!" I yelled before following after the riflemen, the sound of one other pair of booted feet following me into the darkness. Inside the attached lights of the riflemen illuminated the main hall as they moved while I unclipped and turned on a handheld flashlight, the short beam illuminating the area as I followed the men deeper into the facility.

We barely made it sixty feet before splitting into two teams at a 'T' section hallway, one group following the hallway with me in the lead, while the other took a flight of stairs downward. I couldn't help but feel a little thrown off by the building, it was dark and worn from the passage of time, but there didn't seem to be much damage or even signs of use. 'They probably never even were able to use this place.' I thought as the lights suddenly flickered to life, some of the light tubes blowing out from power surges while others hummed to life, illuminating a closed metal door ahead.

I barely managed to click off my light when the radio kicked on. _**"Commander.. We've got something down here."**_ Reaching up I clicked the radio. "Wha'da ya have?" I asked as the rest of the team moved up to the door and opened it, two taking position while the rest stepped inside. _**"Its some sort of missile.. Looks like theres a massive silo down here with manufacturing equipment, no sign of a control room." **_He replied as one of the three that walked into the room came back out. "Sir!" I paused and sighed over the radio. "Dont worry, I think we found it." I said and continued on to the door, stepping past the riflemen to examine the room. It was big.. Very big. At least three layers of computer monitors sat idle in a semi-circle with a large screen at the front of the room, some burned out from power surges while most stood in standby, the now familiar spread falcon of the Allied Nations sitting on their screens, awaiting their long dead technicians.

Grinning triumphantly I gave the riflemen a nod. "Clear the building and get a patrol running.. Benedict." I stated over my shoulder. "Get me comms." A grinning black wolf walked past me, carrying a yellow hardcase with his matching yellow hardhat resting snugly on his head. "I'll do you one better sir.. Just sit back, i'll do the rest." He stated, sliding into a nearby terminal and pausing only long enough to blow clear the layer of dust covering the machine.

Crossing my arms I walked up next to him, observing as he opened up a code box and began typing in several series of code to it, his fingers moving fluidly across the keyboard before the black background of the screen changed to a calm navy blue, the spread falcon resting in the center of the screen before a second box appeared.

_ **-Insert**_**_ Access Code-_**

Hardly taking note of the box, Benedict quickly typed in a series of numbers and letters, all of them appearing as a concealed star in the box until it finally disappeared, the screen shifting as it changed to a black background, the words '**Accessing Network: Standby. .**' dominating the screen until suddenly a flash of static appeared, dissolving into the familiar face of Filis, her command center visible in the background as staff went about their duties. _"Commander, its good to hear from you.. I assume your mission was successful?"_ She asked while Benedict vacated his seat and took up control of another terminal while I took his seat.

"We've located the base and have control.. But we're likely going to need reinforcements to hold this position down." I said, sitting back in the old office chair. _"I see.. Have you picked up any signs of hostiles in the area?"_ She replied, typing something in off screen. "Thats a negative ma'am.. No sign of Nod forces, and our contact with mutants has been.. Minimal." I said with a moments hesitation. _"Commander.."_ Came Filis' response. "We.. Have a new addition to our team, he hasn't proven to be hostile to anyone, yet.." I added only for my eyes to widen. _"Then I'll be looking forward to meeting him, reinforcements will arrive in thirty minutes."_ She'd state before the screen goes blank while the big screen up front suddenly lights up, showing a 2D map of the surrounding area.

With a glance at Benedict I sat forward, bringing up the map on my monitor, my hand finding its way to my chin. Unaware that someone else had been listening to the impromptu transmission.

* * *

**Two-hundred-twenty-eight miles above the Equator.**

**Electronic Warfare Suite Seven**

**GDSS Philadelphia**

The GDSS Philadelphia, the orbiting command station of the Global Defense Initiative and nerve center for most operations on the planet, one of the most secure military facilities constructed by mankind and home to the vaunted Drop Trooper Corps. It had been constructed following the end of the first Tiberium War and stood as a beacon for GDI's progress in the name of preserving humankind by any means necessary.

Behind the scene's were the various warfare suites housed aboard the station, Electronic warfare, Information warfare and everything up to and including the use of the devastating Ion Cannon array in orbit. It was inside one of these suites that a lone technician had picked up on a hack in progress, the target being an old Second World War era GPS satellite from a facility in Red Zone Zero. After checking to make sure it wasn't a simple glitch, he'd called up his superior and instead, General Soloman himself came through the door of his suite and a watched as the transmission took place, a look of pure disbelief plastered on the faces of both him and the techie at the sight of the two beings.

Once it was finished the two shared a look and the general motioned for him to follow. Nearly ten minutes later the technician found himself in a conference room, sitting in a plush chair while a cup of warm coffee stood on a coaster in front of him, the liquid being held in an unstained white cup. However the chair may as well have been a solid rock bench and the drink could have been a glass of tib infected water.

Taking up three of the twenty other chairs in the room were the military and scientific leaders of the Global Defense Initiative. sitting directly across from him was Doctor Ignatio Mobius, the rather absent minded scientist seemingly reading over a report on Tiberium research, or something relating to it. Two chairs to his right sat a gruff looking Caucasian man in pure white armor with the emblem of the Global Defense Initiative stamped onto the right shoulder plate and **_parker _**stylized on the breastplate, his helmet resting on the table and seemingly of a more advanced design then the standard suits in use by GDI infantrymen. He was Colonel Nick Parker, commander of all Commando units and special operations in use by GDI.

On the left of the scientist, one seat over from him was and elderly gentleman in a recently ironed officers uniform, his officers cap resting on the table in front of him was Major General Mark Sheppard. The former military leader of the UNGDI during the First Tiberium War had taken an increase in rank to act as an advisor to his former protege General Solomon and help with the bane of any military leader in modern history.. Paperwork. Solomon himself was pacing in front of a screen, displaying the image that had called these men to this room, the two beings. both clearly not human and bearing clearly canine-like features and both wearing blue uniforms.

"We dont know anything about these things.." Solomon began only to earn a short laugh from the doctor. "Ah General, we do know something about them.. For example." He'd trail off, tapping on the tablet he'd been 'reading' and adjusting the image on the screen. "These two beings are clearly of of differentiating genders, the one on the left.." He'd zoom in on the vulpine-esq one. "Appears to contain additional muscle mass in the upper body, variations in hair color and skeletal structure would constitute a subspecies.. Similar to a vulpine of some sort. Observe." He'd state, once again zooming in, this time on the female.

"The one appears to mimic a form of Canis latrans lestes, most commonly referred to as a Coyote." He'd pause for a moment, looking around at the assembled men's blank expressions before sighing, mumbling something about 'basic zoology.' "Ehm, this female carries the specific humanoid variations seen between a human male, and female. For instance this one appears to be thinner, lighter muscle mass and more noticeable breasts.. However this may just be a coincidence.. The tones of their voices do support my theory on top of this." He'd finish, zooming out. "But most importantly.. Is this." He'd start, zooming in on the males face while pulling up a close-up of the females, focusing specifically on the thin lines of green running across them. "Both of these beings appear to naturally contain trace amounts of Tiberium, this could indicate a resistance to Tiberium exposure, possibly even total immunity." He'd finished.

Silence echo'd in the room as all eyes fell on Doctor Mobius. Taking a seat next to him, General Solomon braced himself against the table. "Your certain of this?" He asked. "Unless I can get a usable sample of one.. I cant be certain, but I feel it may be highly likely." He replied, readjusting his glasses. Shifting in his seat the Major General stood up, moving over to the screen. "I'm curious.. The uniforms and markings they use, it reminds me of the old Allied Nations forces, back before the formation of the Initiative." As he looked the spread eagle patches over he crossed his arms. "Just who are these people.." He murmurs.

Sitting up straighter, Solomon turns his attention to the only armored person in the room. "Colonel.. I want a team of your men to scout out the location this transmission was sent from, we need to know more about them. Above all else, be cautious." He says, the armored commando's only actions being a smile as he picks his helmet up off the table and walks to the door, placing it on as he walks through, the door closing with a soft thud.

With the orders given and events rolling, Solomon pulled himself to his feet and filed out followed closely by Shephherd after a moments pause to shut of the screen, Mobius. Leaving a very confused and uncertain Tech Sergeant James T. Murphey in the room before he too, finally left and returned to his station.


End file.
